Georgette Braun: ‘Ghost bikes’ drum up life reflections

When I drive by roadside memorials made up of flowers and crosses, I wonder about the person whose death has been marked there.

What happened? How old were they? Who is doing the decorating?

A different kind of street-side memorial project is in the works in Rockford. It’s sure to engage curious passersby and may even lead them to publicly share a bit about their loved ones who’ve died.

There are two prongs to the Ghost Bike Project that are intertwined:

The outside effort — 15 old, stripped-down bicycles will be painted white and chained to street signs or lamp posts around the city at spots considered dangerous for bicyclists.

The project is a temporary public art installation conceptualized by Chicago artist Carlos Rolon, who also goes by “Dzine.” The outside display of the bikes dovetails with a sculpture Rolon will create inside Rockford Art Museum that will be displayed for the public from Oct. 11 through Feb. 1.

The inside effort — The sculpture created at the museum will be about 10 feet tall. It will feature 100 donated, old, stripped-down bikes that have been painted white and welded together. Rolon may embellish the bikes with flowers and candles.

Rolon is asking the public to connect to the project inside and out.

He wants those who have lost loved ones from any cause to post handwritten notes or letters near the sculpture revealing something about the deceased.

“I don’t see them as somber memorials,” he told me in a telephone interview, referring to the standalone ghost bikes on streets and the sculpture. “I see them as celebrations of life.”

He also is asking the public to be more aware of bicycle safety. The aim of chaining the white bikes to signs around town is to remind vehicle drivers and bicyclists alike to be careful.

The museum is in the process of getting the city’s OK for a right-of-way permit for the ghost bikes to be affixed to signs, said Carrie Johnson, museum curator.

Team Fur Bandit, a Rockford-based group of bicyclists with about two dozen members, is helping the art museum choose where to place the ghost bikes. “There are a lot of dangers with cars,” said Dj Wilson, president of the group whose members decorate their bikes with various colors and patterns of fake furs to draw attention to themselves.

Team Fur Bandit also is collecting the names, dates and locations of cyclists killed on the road in the Rockford area for possible use in this or other projects.

Ghost bikes — often placed anonymously near crash sites with a note about the deceased — have been part of the landscape in cities such as St. Louis, Chicago and New York City for years, according to ghostbikes.org.